One construction of a slant plate type compressor, particularly a wobble plate type compressor, with a variable capacity mechanism which is suitable for use in an automotive air conditioner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,829 issued to Roberts et al. Roberts et al. '829 discloses a wobble plate type compressor which has a cam rotor driving device to drive a plurality of pistons. The slant or incline angle of the slant surface of the wobble plate is varied to change the stroke length of the pistons which changes the displacement of the compressor. Changing the incline angle of the wobble plate is effected by changing the pressure difference between the suction chamber and the crank chamber in which the driving device is located.
In such a prior art compressor, the slant angle of the slant surface is controlled by the pressure in the crank chamber. Typically this control occurs in the following manner. The crank chamber communicates with the suction chamber through an aperture and the opening and closing of the aperture is controlled by a valve mechanism. The valve mechanism generally includes a bellows element and a needle valve, and is located in the suction chamber so that the bellows element operates in accordance with changes in the suction chamber pressure.
In the above compressor, the pressure in the suction chamber is compared with a predetermined value by the valve mechanism. However, when the predetermined value is below a certain critical value, there is a possibility of frost forming on the evaporator in the refrigerant circuit. Thus, the predetermined value is usually set higher than this critical value to prevent frost from forming on the evaporator.
However, since suction pressures above this critical value are higher than the pressure in the suction chamber when the compressor operates at maximum capacity, the cooling characteristics of the compressor are inferior to those of the same compressor without a variable displacement mechanism. That is, if the temperature in the passenger compartment of an automobile is high, the pressure in the suction chamber of the compressor usually becomes high. However, if the compressor is driven at high capacity and at high rotational speeds, the pressure in the suction chamber decreases even though the temperature in the passenger compartment of the automobile and the thermal load for the evaporator are still high. Therefore, the variable displacement mechanism operates to decrease the capacity even as the environmental conditions require an increased cooling capacity of the compressor. The cooling operation in the passenger compartment of the automobile is therefore insufficient.
Roberts et al. '829 discloses a capacity adjusting mechanism used in a wobble plate type compressor. As is typical in this type of compressor, the wobble plate is disposed at a slant or incline angle relative to the drive axis, nutates but does not rotate, and drivingly couples the pistons to the drive source. This type of capacity adjusting mechanism, using selective fluid communication between the crank chamber and the suction chamber can be used in any type of compressor which uses a slanted plate or surface in the drive mechanism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,604 issued to Terauchi discloses this type of capacity adjusting mechanism in a swash plate type compressor. The swash plate, like the wobble plate, is disposed at a slant angle and drivingly couples the pistons to the drive source. However, while the wobble plate only nutates, the swash plate both nutates and rotates. The term slant plate type compressor will therefore be used to refer to any type of compressor, including wobble and swash plate types, which use a slanted plate or surface in the drive mechanism.